


Into This Wilde Abyss

by Kerkerian



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Dæmons, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Episode: s01e20 Ma Ke Kahakai (Shore), Episode: s01e23 Ua Hiki Mai Kapalena Pau (Until the End is Near), First Meeting, Humour, M/M, Romance, alternative universe, mcdanno, tiny bit of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 08:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14445084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerkerian/pseuds/Kerkerian
Summary: In the garage of his recently murdered father, Steve McGarrett runs into one Danny Williams. They are less than thrilled, and so are their dæmons.





	Into This Wilde Abyss

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Hawaii Five-0 or His Dark Materials. The title is from John Milton's 'Paradise Lost' (just like 'His Dark Materials').
> 
> You don't necessarily need to have read "His Dark Materials" to understand this story.
> 
> A short explanation:  
> A dæmon "is the physical manifestation of a person's 'inner being', soul or spirit. It takes the form of a creature (moth, bird, dog, monkey, snake, etc.) and is usually the opposite sex to its human counterpart. The dæmons of children have the ability to change form - from one creature to another - but towards the end of a child's puberty, their dæmon "settles" into a permanent form, which reflects the person's personality. When a person dies, the dæmon dies too." (taken from Wikipedia)

 

 

 

It started with shouting and bared fangs, but at least they didn't immediately pounce on each other. Once Steve and the other man simultaneously pulled out their identification and it was established that they were on the same side if not necessarily on the same page, the tension eased up enough for their dæmons to stop growling. They eyed one another warily though: while Aequitas outwardly didn't seem very impressed by the little dog, the jaguar's hackles were still raised.

She knew better than to underestimate smaller dæmons, and the Parson Russell terrier who was standing in front of its human seemed to mean business, not in the least intimidated by the large wildcat.

Since their humans had now introduced themselves, they reluctantly did so as well: “My name is Aequitas,” the jaguar said coolly. “What's yours?”

The terrier snuffled: “I'm Fae. And you can drop that attitude.”

“Which attitude?” Aequitas asked, gainst her will amused.

“You know what I'm talking about! _Look at me, I'm a really big cat!_ Well, I'm not impressed by you!”

“Fae,” her human said in an undertone.

Fae huffed but kept staring at the other dæmon, who stoically returned her gaze as long as their humans kept arguing about whose crime scene it was.

In the end, McGarrett won, or so it seemed.

Fae had to jog to keep up with Danny as he marched back to their car, muttering something about all the insane people on this island and how there were pineapples everywhere too. Fae hadn't smelled a single pineapple in that garage, but she wisely didn't say so. Instead, she jumped on Danny's lap after he had slid onto the driver's seat and made herself comfortable: “Just so you know: I wasn't quarreling,” she informed her human, then closed her eyes. Danny's only reply was a snort.

 

Steve stood in the kitchen, wearily eyeing the tool box. His father's death was weighing him down, this house was weighing him down, the whole situation was wearing him down and now he had agreed to take on even more responsibility, to burden himself with a lot more than just the hunt for his father's murderer. So no, it didn't seem like a victory.

He felt Aequitas' warm, reassuring weight against his leg; she was grieving just as much as he was, and she understood the doubts he was feeling right then.

Maybe he had acted too rashly; and maybe Detective Williams could have helped him. He had seemed alright, not counting their initial misunderstanding; apart from his ethics, he seemed to possess the necessary amount of sass, self-assuredness and sympathy to be useful to this case.

“I'll check him out,” Steve eventually said with sudden resolve.

“Who?” Aequitas looked up at him questioningly.

“Detective Williams. If he's any good, I'll go and ask him for help.”

His dæmon sighed: “Meaning that this isn't the last I've seen of that cantankerous little bellyacher?”

Despite himself, Steve grinned: “Exactly.”

Aequitas groaned: “I hope she won't be nagging non-stop.”

“We kinda started off on the wrong foot,” Steve replied. “Cut her some slack, okay?”

With another sigh, Aequitas sat down next to him: “Do I have a choice?”

 

In the end, it didn't take long for Steve and Danny to become friends. And while Fae admittedly wore her heart on her sleeve sometimes and never hesitated to voice her opinion (which was mirrored in her human and sometimes drove Steve crazy), Aequitas had come to value her for a multitude of reasons: she was loyal, honest and brave, to name only a few of them. She was also much stronger than she looked, she was fast and indeed not easily intimidated.

Many a criminal who dared to crack a grin at her at first would soon reconsider, especially when Aequitas stood beside her, both of them staring their opponent down with only a subtle hint of bared teeth. Fae admittedly did look fierce when she snarled in earnest. At one point, Aequitas began to call her 'Fang', which had Fae growling every time, though the jaguar was convinced that Fae secretly liked it.

The closer Steve and Danny grew, the less reserved Aequitas felt towards the little dæmon; it was actually fun to be around her. The feeling seemed mutual; when Steve and Danny sat on the couch watching TV, Fae usually trudged up to where Aequitas lay at one point and settled down next to her. Somewhere along the way, the Jaguar actually caught herself waiting for her friend the minute she had heard the car pulling up.

 

They got along well with the other dæmons working for Five-0: Chin's was a red fox called Demeter, Kono's a barn owl called Persephone. The biggest surprise however was Lottie, the dæmon of Danny's daughter Grace. Firstly, it was very rare for a dæmon to have the same gender as their humans. Secondly Lottie, short for Charlotte, who hadn't settled yet because Grace was still too young for that, immediately took to Aequitas and vice versa, to the jaguar's neverending astonishment. Without any qualms, Lottie, in her current favourite shape as a squirrel, kept climbing on Aequitas' back or curled up between her front legs when Grace happened to be spending time with her dad and Steve at home.

Aequitas found that she didn't mind at all, on the contrary. Fae watched the two of them attentively on those occasions, but she didn't seem jealous. And Aequitas noticed that the weekends which Danny and Steve spent together became more frequent rather quickly. Which was just as well in her opinion, because Steve had mostly kept to himself before moving back to Hawaii, and while Aequitas liked her solitude once in a while, she didn't want Steve to be lonely. Or unhappy. With Danny, he did seem to be perking up; at first, the two constantly challenged each other, which had eventually turned into increasingly affectionate banter. Likewise, Aequitas realized that she missed Fae on the -increasingly rare- days they didn't spend together.

Seemingly everyone, especially Demeter and Persephone, kept remarking about it, which both parties skilfully ignored. Or not- sometimes, they played along, such as Steve putting his arm around Danny saying: “Yeah, he's my work wife.”

“Excuse me? Why am I being the _wife_?”

“I'm taller than you.”

“And since when does that establish who's the dominant part in a relationship?”

“Fine, so you're my work husband.”

“That still doesn't answer my question!”

Fae blinked up at Aequitas: “Stop grinning!”

“Yes, dear.”

Fae sighed.

 

The first time Danny touched Aequitas was when Steve broke his arm on their somewhat ill-fated hiking trip in the Ko'olau Range. After heaving Steve back up onto the ledge from which the rescue helo was going to pick him up, Danny looked down at where Aequitas stood on three unsteady legs, unable to climb up on her own.

He turned to his friend: “Steve?”

Steve was pale; it was quite a drop to the other ledge, and the pulling which the distance was causing was more than a little discomforting. Aequitas was very obviously feeling it too.

“Steve, Buddy,” Danny said, one hand on his jaw to help him focus, “I'll climb down to get Aequitas, but that means I'll... I'll have to touch her. Is that okay?”

Swallowing hard a few times, Steve nodded: “Yeah... just...”

“I know.”

Fae, who had been running to and fro, telling Aquitas that it was going to be alright, deftly jumped onto Danny's shoulder. He shook his head: “I can't climb like that. Back into the backpack, come on.” He was glad now that he had brought one, because it was going to be difficult enough to bring Aequitas up as it was; while Fae was very adept in keeping her balance on his shoulder or lying on his neck, he didn't want to take any risks. Fae pulled all kinds of faces but did as she was told.

Danny used the rope to climb down; it was slow-going, but he knew from experience how bad it felt when one's dæmon was too far away, and the last thing he needed was for Steve to pass out before the helicopter got to them. So he concentrated and managed not to slip once.

Fae jumped out of the backpack as soon as they had reached the lower ledge and nuzzled Aequitas, which was a first. Danny squatted down next to the jaguar: “I'll have to touch you, Aequitas,” he said quietly. “Otherwise I can't carry you up to Steve. Is that alright?”

Aequitas blinked, her movements were unusually sluggish: “Please,” she just said, sounding pained. Danny nodded. Fae yipped and hopped back into the backpack.

Very carefully, Danny lifted Aequitas up and gently draped her over his shoulder; she was much lighter than he had expected.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

“Yes.” Aequitas' voice was faint. Danny could feel her trembling ever so slightly, therefore he hurried to get going. It was difficult to climb like that, and he was grateful for the rope. And then he heard a faint noise which was steadily growing louder and sounded very encouraging: “Hear that?” he asked, panting. “It's the rescue team.”

As soon as they had reached the upper ledge, Danny paused and gently pushed Aequitas onto firm ground. Steve received her with a sigh of relief; immediately, some colour returned to his face as his dæmon huddled against him.

With shaking limbs, Danny pulled himself over the ledge; his heart was racing, if less because of the exertion and more because of the fact that he had just carried Steve's dæmon, which was a very intimate matter. Accordingly, he felt flushed and confused, but then the helicopter was there, and only minutes later, he and Fae were alone on the ledge.

 

Danny's confusion didn't abate for the rest of the day, even though they were busy working the case of the dead fisherman.

It wasn't until he took Steve home that night that they got to talk in private. Aequitas and Fae were lying next to one another on the backseat, dozing, when Steve cleared his throat: “So, today, huh?”

Danny kept his eyes on the road: “Yeah. You okay?”

“Yeah! I wanted to thank you- you know. For getting Aequitas up to me.”

For some reason, Danny's heart suddenly was in his throat. “You'd have done the same for us,” he managed.

“Yeah.” He could feel Steve's gaze on his skin; when he finally turned his head to look at him, Steve was smiling: “It wasn't... too bad, was it.” Which wasn't exactly a question.

“No.” Danny couldn't but smile as well: “No, it wasn't.”

“Good.”

 

The second time Danny touched Aequitas was after his own close shave after having been poisoned with sarin nerve gas.

That evening, Steve went back to the hospital as soon as Chloe Ballantine had been taken care of. He found both Danny and Grace asleep, the little girl nestled against her dad on the hospital bed, their dæmons curled tightly around each other between them, snoring ever so quietly. It was such a peaceful picture that Steve didn't want to wake them.

He looked at Danny and for the first time fully realized just how narrow an escape it had been and what he'd have lost if Jenna hadn't identified the toxin in time. Danny was more than a friend to him, even if the precise nature of their relationship was undefined of yet; losing him was unimaginable. A cold shudder ran down Steve's spine, and a moment later, he suddenly had his arms full with his own dæmon, as Aequitas had jumped up in one smooth motion and huddled against him. He didn't say anything, just hugged her close, then he looked around for a chair. He wasn't going to leave so soon.

 

When Steve woke up early on the following morning, he was thoroughly disoriented for a moment before he remembered that he was in the hospital with Danny. He had fallen asleep on a couch in the far corner of the room, which was convenient if quite short for a tall man and his rather large dæmon.

With a small groan, he sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes until he realized that he was being watched; it was only six, but Danny was awake. Steve got to his feet: “Danno, you okay?”

Danny nodded sleepily: “Yeah.”

Fae raised her head, blinking, when Aequitas approached and nuzzled her: “You scared us, Fang,” the jaguar said matter-of-factly. Wordlessly, Fae scooted closer to the edge of the mattress and nuzzled her back.

Steve smiled, looking his partner over: “How're you feeling?”

“Headache's almost gone.”

“That's good. You look tired though.”

“I am. It really is like a bad hangover.” Danny smiled as well, and Steve's suddenly weak knees rather forcefully reminded him once more how lucky they had been.

Carefully, he sat down on the mattress: “Well, the good news are that the case is solved.”

He told Danny what had transpired.

Danny grinned:“The secretary, huh? That's such a cliché.”

“Yeah.” Steve felt his own tiredness creep up at him and for a moment wished he could be in Gracie's place; he wanted to be close to Danny. Slowly, almost timidly, he reached for his partner's hand: “Hey Danno? I'm really glad you're okay.”

Danny regarded him with a fond expression: “Me too, Babe.” He squeezed Steve's hand. For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

“Makes you think, these kind of near-death experiences,” Danny then said hesitantly. “About the things you never got to round to do.” His gaze wandered over Steve's face. “Or say.”

Steve's heart was suddenly in his throat. “Yeah?” he managed.

“Yeah.”

They remained silent once more until Aequitas heaved a long-suffering sigh and jumped onto the bed with one swift motion. Lottie, who currently had assumed the shape of a Dalmatian puppy, blinked, yawned widely and crawled onto Danny's chest, where she curled up again as Grace snuggled closer to Danny in her sleep.

Aequitas settled down next to Fae, then cautiously put her head on Danny's hand. He gasped while Steve's stomach gave a funny little jolt: “What are you-”

“What he means to say,” Fae now piped up, addressing Steve, “is that he would like to go to dinner with you.”

Steve's stomach gave another jolt and he slowly broke into a smile: “I'd like that very much myself.”

They just beamed at each other for a while, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

 

Their first and only date was on the following Saturday. Since Danny didn't have Grace that weekend and was feeling astonishingly well again, they didn't want to wait any longer than necessary. So Steve took Danny to a small Indian restaurant where they sat until very late, having a good time.

Steve walked Danny to the door of his dingy flat afterwards, their dæmons ambling along.

In front of the door, they stopped, and Fae whispered loudly to Aequitas how clichéd this was. The jaguar shushed her, at which Fae began to playfully nudge her, running away a few feet in between until Aequitas gave in and chased after her.

Danny and Steve barely registered it, because both their hearts were beating like drums as they regarded one another, but suddenly, neither of them knew how to proceed; they were equally overwhelmed by the situation.

It was Steve who raised his hand, aware that it was shaking ever so slightly, and cupped Danny's cheek with it: “You're beautiful, Danno,” he said softly, at which Danny flushed most adoringly: “You're not so bad yourself,” he managed.

The corners of Steve's mouth quirked upwards, his thumb stroking over Danny's soft skin: “Can I kiss you?”

Danny briefly closed his eyes, leaning into the touch:“Do you even have to ask?”

“Well- maybe you'd have preferred to do it the old-fashioned way and wait till after our next d-”

“Shut up and kiss me already, you big goof!”

So Steve shut up and kissed Danny.

On the lawn in front of the building, Fae all but bowled over Aequitas: “Told you!” she panted, obviously very pleased with her herself. Instead of an answer, Aequitas gently grabbed her by her neck and shook her a little. When she let go and lay down, Fae nudged her once more, then huddled against her side.

Their humans were still oblivious to the world; once they came up for air, bedazzled and giddy, Steve pulled Danny into his arms and held him tightly: “I need you in my life,” he said into his partner's hair. “I love you, Danno.”

From that moment on, they were together. Neither of them saw the necessity for another date, because this had been quite some time coming, and they had waited too long already in their mutual opinion.

Aequitas was happy that Steve was happy, and even though Fae got on her nerves from time to time, she couldn't imagine ever having lived without her. Or Lottie, for that matter. A few weeks after the sarin episode, Danny and Fae moved into Steve's house, which meant that Grace and Lottie were around every second weekend, and Aequitas was looking forward to it every time. She vaguely remembered how it had felt to have a family, back then before Mom died, before she and Steve had had to leave their home. For a long time, they hadn't had anything comparable, but it was beginning to feel like it again, and she liked it.

 

“I'm glad we kept that cantankerous little bellyacher,” she told Steve one afternoon as he watched Danny, Grace, Fae and Lottie playing on the beach behind the house.

Steve smiled: “Told you we got off on the wrong foot.”

Aequitas sighed: “Yeah. And I was right, she is nagging a lot. But when she's not here, it's too quiet.”

Steve glanced at her and hid a grin: for Aequitas, this amounted to the highest praise she was verbally capable of.

His gaze wandered back to Danny; he was certain that without him, he wouldn't have been able to make this island, much less this house, his home again.

With a contented sigh, he patted his dæmon's back: “I know what you mean.”

 

The End

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> I'm not a Native Speaker, therefore I apologize for any mistakes.
> 
> It's been quite some time since I read the books, so I may have taken liberties here.  
> Since I felt rather drawn to the possibility of people having a dæmon, it's furthermore very possible I'll write more stories about this particular AU.


End file.
